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William Rufus King Biography

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KING, William Rufus (1786-1853). An American statesman. He was born in Sampson Co., N. C., graduated at the University of North Carolina in 1803, and studied law at Fayetteville, where he was admitted to the bar in 1806. In the same year he was elected to the State Legislature, serving until his election, as a Democrat, to the Federal House of Representatives in 1810. There he remained until he resigned, on Nov. 4; 1816, supporting the administration's war policy and receiving in the latter year the position of Secretary of Legation at St. Petersburg. Returning in 1818, he settled as a cotton planter in Dallas Co., Ala., was a member of the convention which drew up the constitution for the proposed State in that year, and after its admission in 1819 took his seat (on December 14) in the United States Senate as one of the first Senators from Alabama. He remained in the Senate by reëlection until 1844, serving after 1838 as President pro tempore. His resignation (April 15, 1844) enabled him to accept an appointment as Minister to France. While holding this post, he is said to have prevented a French protest against the annexation of Texas. Recalled at his own request in September, 1846, he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Senate, took his seat on July 13, 1848, was elected for the ensuing term, and served until his resignation, in January, 1853. In 1850-52 he had again been President pro tempore. In 1852 King, who had been a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the vice presidency ever since 1840, was finally named for that office on the Pierce ticket and was elected. Before the inauguration, however, his health began to fail rapidly, and he went to Havana, Cuba, where by special act of Congress he was allowed to take the oath of office on March 4, 1853. He never entered upon the duties of his office, however, but died shortly after his return to Alabama in the following April.